On a pristine Sunday night in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the Miami Hurricanes looked to advance to the super regionals for the first time since 2016. However, in their first regional final since 2022, the ’Canes were blown out 17–6 in Game 1. Now, their season will come down to one final game on Monday night.
The double-elimination style tournament gifted Miami another life after successful defeats against Alabama and Columbia. No.1 seed and tournament host, Southern Miss made it to the regional final after losing to Columbia in the first round, then defeating Alabama and Columbia in back-to-back days. Miami had a chance to put the Golden Eagles away since they already had one loss, but failed to do so.
Miami freshman Tate DeRias got the starting nod in what he hoped would be a successful start to advance to the super regional part of the NCAA baseball tournament. DeRias emerged as the Sunday starter in the second half of the season, but his ERA began to rise towards the end of the campaign. The bright lights of playoff baseball got to DeRias early.
In the top of the first inning, a mix of poor pitch location and the strong bats of Southern Miss (47-15, 24-6 SBC) banged DeRias up right away. He gave up singles left and right, and although he got to two outs fairly quickly, the Golden Eagles rallied. A three-run blast from two-hole hitter, Joey Urban, in his second time around, bounced DeRias from the game. In two-thirds of an inning, he gave up seven hits, nine runs, and walked one batter. Lefty Jake Dorn was able to get out of the inning after striking out Nick Monistere. After one, the Golden Eagles led 9-0.
The Hurricanes’ first run of the game came off the bat of Tanner Smith, who hit a solo shot to left field.
Dorn, pitching in limited action throughout the regular season, put together a quality relief appearance in Hattiesburg. In 3.1 innings pitched, he allowed two hits, one run, and struck out three batters.
10-1 after four, Miami tacked on four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Michael Torres picked up a hit and an RBI, and Jake Ogden doubled and picked up two RBIs. Dorian Gonzalez Jr, after a career-high eight RBI performance on Saturday night, picked up another one on a fielder’s choice.
Jackson Cleveland and Alex Giroux combined for three innings of work, giving up two runs in the seventh. Miami scored in the bottom of the eighth on a Golden Eagles throwing error. It was 13-6 after eight.
Things got even uglier in the ninth when freshman lefty Michael Fernandez wrapped up his outing, allowing three runs over 1.1 innings. With the game out of hand, Miami (33-25, 15-14 ACC) head coach JD Arteaga turned to shortstop Brandon DeGoti to pitch with one out in the top of the ninth. DeGoti managed to record just one out while surrendering two runs, before Rob Evans came on to get the final out of the frame.
After an embarrassing 17-6 loss, the Miami Hurricanes face a win-or-go-home scenario. They’ll look for revenge and a ticket to the super regionals on Monday night at 9 p.m. Eastern, as they take on Southern Miss at Pete Taylor Park.